[TowerTalk] Near Field Lightning Damage (Hans Hammarquist via TowerTalk)

[Chuck Smallhouse]

A couple of comments:

1,)  Most of the early digital watches had plastic cases.  Even so I 
would be suspect !

2.)  I have always figured, that a low altitude EMP event, that was 
over a high population area, set off at about 5PM, the height of the 
commute traffic, would disable all of the vehicles with electronic 
ignitions.  What a traffic jam !  I wish I still had my early model VW !

3.)  Quite a number of years ago, I heard a presentation by a 
Scientist/Ham, who was on a monitoring ship in safe proximity, to 
some the atomic tests performed in the Pacific - Aniwitoc (sp?), I 
think.  They were monitoring some VHF/UHF comm & telemetry channels 
and were basically, listening to RF noise on the shipboard loud 
speakers, prior to the Event.  Immediately after the Event, all the 
noise that was coming from the multiple speakers went dead quiet 
.    The didn't realize this for awhile, but finally investigated, 
and discovered that all of the front ends of the receivers' LNAs had 
been blown.  The grids of the low noise input tubes were 
evaporated.  Most of the tubes that provided very low noise figures 
and were mostly 416Bs or other exotic low noise tubes .

So yes, tubes are also not immune to an EMP event.

Chuck,  W7CS